NETFLIX HAS A SOLUTION FOR ANNOYING TRICK OR TREATERS

On Halloween, what’s better than snuggling up on your couch, popping a bag of buttery popcorn, and binge watching scary movies all night? Then the doorbell rings. It’s a group of trick-or-treaters. You pause your movie, get up, dole out the candy, and then sit back down.

You don’t want to be “that jerk” with the porch light off and no candy on Halloween. But is it too much to ask to be able to watch Hellraiser or Children of the Corn uninterrupted?

The struggle is real. Netflix thinks it has the answer.

Say hello to the Netflix Halloween Doorbell. It’s a contraption that goes over your existing doorbell that “plays spooky sounds and music from your favorite Netflix shows.”

In other words, the device can blast the theme song to Stranger Things, for instance, while alerting trick-or-treaters to the tub of chocolates you stashed on your porch.

That means you’re free to Netflix and chill. All. Night. Long.Oh, wait, of course there’s a catch: You have to build the darn thing yourself. Netflix outlines all the supplies you need and even offers instructions for how to create it from scratch.As neat as this may seem, I doubt many people will enthusiastically figure out how to wire an Arduino Pro Trinket 5 or 3v microcontroller to a battery, LCD screen, an MP3 player, etc. etc. As they say, the ROI just isn’t worth it.

ISACA INSTALLS 2018-2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Schaumburg, IL, USA (11 June 2018)—ISACA, a global business technology association serving more than 450,000 professionals, installed its 2018-2019 Board of Directors at its Annual General Meeting in Chicago, Saturday 10 June. Rob Clyde was elected to lead ISACA’s board as chair.

“It is an incredible privilege and opportunity to lead this dynamic organization as we help enterprises navigate digital transformation and help individuals transform their careers,” said Clyde. “I am grateful to serve alongside a global professional community that is ensuring the technologies and advancements we embrace are safe, secure, reliable and resilient for both individuals and for enterprises.”

An industry leader within the security and technology space with more than 30 years of experience, Clyde is managing director of Clyde Consulting LLC, which provides board and executive advisory services to cybersecurity software and other companies. In addition to his role as ISACA’s newest chair, Clyde serves as executive chair for White Cloud Security, board director for Titus and executive advisor to HyTrust and BullGuard. He is also a Board Leadership Fellow of the U.S. National Association of Corporate Directors. Prior to his current board and executive advisory work, Clyde served as the chief executive officer of Adaptive Computing, was chief technology officer at Symantec and cofounder of Axent Technologies.

At ISACA, Clyde previously served as board vice chair and director, chaired the board-level ISACA Finance Committee, and served as a member of ISACA’s Strategic Advisory Council, Conference and Education Board and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) Advisory Panel. He is a frequent speaker at ISACA and other global cyber security, technology and governance conferences. He also serves on the industry advisory council for the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department of Utah State University (USA).

“Rob has served ISACA and our global professional community for many years, and his technical expertise, paired with his business acumen and leadership skills, make him an ideal choice for ISACA board chair,” said ISACA CEO Matt Loeb. “The expanding digital business challenges and risks facing the enterprises and professionals we serve requires innovative thinking, including new expert resources, assessment tools and training solutions. Our 2018-2019 board members are remarkably experienced and dedicated individuals who will contribute to ISACA’s increasing visibility, influence and impact globally.”

Also named to a new leadership role on ISACA’s Board of Directors is Vice-chair Brennan Baybeck, vice president of Global IT Risk Management for Oracle Corp. Baybeck has more than 20 years of experience in IT security, risk, audit and consulting, and has worked in various industries designing, implementing and operating enterprise-wide programs to address global security risks. He has held leadership positions at Sun Microsystems, StorageTek and Qwest Communications.

In total, 13 leaders were installed on the 2018-2019 ISACA Board during the organization’s annual business meeting:

USING AI CAN HAVE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Artificial intelligence protects us from known and unknown threats, helps us connect to one another, and provides better answers faster and cheaper than humans do. But what about the unintended consequences that come with its use?

A new Insight from Bain & Company provides a list of risks to beware of when considering leveraging AI, among them:

Unlike traditional rules-based programming, AI models are statistical representations of the world. They provide answers based on their learning, but they are imperfect. Consider autonomous vehicles—their training data is growing exponentially and the models based on it are improving, but errors in those algorithms continue to be discovered, sometimes only after loss of life.

Overreliance on AI can lead to loss of skills, critical thinking, and understanding of the fundamentals of your business and what’s truly driving demand.

The lack of transparency in algorithms raises concerns about bias, since any algorithm trained on historical data will make conclusions that reflect the bias present in that data. As these algorithms take on broader roles—setting a price on an e-commerce site, determining car insurance rates, making hiring decisions—a very real risk is simply repeating how things have always been done.

How can these risks be addressed?

Bain & Co. advises that top executives be involved in establishing the goals and limits around the AI used by their businesses. Every materially important algorithm should also have a product manager to review and test the algorithm, audit its outcomes, and assess and improve its performance.

DOING THIS ONE THING EACH NIGHT WILL MAKE YOU MORE RESILIENT

Sheryl Sandberg found a nighttime routine that built up her resilience.

After the unexpected death of her husband, she began writing down three things she did well that day before she went to bed. It didn’t have to be a big thing: ran a successful meeting. Listened, when her instinct was to talk. Said something kind to another.

Sounds simple. But the results were game-changing.

“It is transformative,” Sandberg said. “I don’t think I realized how much time I spent beating myself up for things that went wrong, rather than focusing on the things that went well.”

Why Sheryl does this

In her book Option B, which has been translated into a free LinkedIn Learning course on resiliency, Sandberg said she struggled with self-confidence throughout her career. But, she managed to build up her confidence over time with the success of her book Lean In and helping other women break the glass ceiling – only for it to come crashing down after her husband Dave Goldberg’s unexpectedly died in 2015.

In the months after Goldberg’s death, Sandberg’s confidence was shot. Psychologist and Option B co-author Adam Grant noticed and told her the only way she’d build it back up again was by adopting self-compassion – which means approaching yourself with the same kindness and understanding you’d show to a friend.

Part of that is highlighting wins, instead of losses – much like you would accent a friend’s strengths, as opposed to picking out all their weaknesses. And one tactic for doing that is journaling each night three things you do well, instead of what focusing on what you failed at.

Sandberg took the advice in the months after her husband’s death and is forever grateful for it.

How this applies to you

Perhaps you haven’t gone through a tragic loss like Sandberg did. But the technique isn’t just for people going through hardship, it can apply to anyone.

I’ll take myself as an example. Before I go to bed each night, I too focus on everything I did wrong that day, while rarely giving myself credit for anything that went right.

All this does is make small struggles bigger, erode my confidence and lower my resilience.

I’d never treat anybody else this way. And that’s Grant’s whole point: we focus so much on building great relationships with others, and yet we often form terrible relationships with ourselves.

Maybe this is a foreign idea, and you go to bed each night thinking of all the great stuff you did. But, if that’s not the case, perhaps it’s time for a change – and to take time to write out what you did well, instead of what you did wrong.

According to Sandberg, that simple action will build your resilience, increase your happiness and ultimately make you happier. And it takes all of five minutes.